By David
Ross Butler is the Chairman of Swimming New Zealand’s new High Performance Governance Committee. I see he has just written a rather puerile comment on the Capital Club’s newsletter. But before looking at Butler’s little outburst it is relevant to consider the progress of his committee.
Initially I thought the High Performance Governance Committee was a good idea. It could act as a conduit to ease the transition between the Cameron, Byrne and Coulter era and whatever was going to come next. Things have not turned out that way. Why? Because nothing has come next. Cameron, Byrne and Coulter are still hanging around. I hope it’s not too rude to ask why Cameron. Byrne and Coulter are still there when Butler’s committee was charged with doing their work. I did see Byrne at the Division Two Championships in Rotorua last week. I was amused to see he arrived late to do some timekeeping. Perhaps he is unaware that the first responsibility of a good timekeeper is to arrive on time. When Byrne did take his seat I wondered whether his duty at the Championships made him the world’s highest paid professional timekeeper. I calculate his three hour stint probably cost Swimming New Zealand about $216.35.
It is serious though. The days and the weeks tick by since the Ineson Report was published and nothing has changed. No one has done anything to address the Report’s grim findings. How long are we going to have to wait? If the contents of Ross Butler’s little missive to the Capital Club are anything to go by, the sport of swimming is not yet in good hands; our wait could be a long one. Here is what he had to say.
It helped to more than balance some pain I felt recently in my new voluntary role on HPP, when I discovered some very sad and sorry people methodically leaking incomplete and deliberately untrue information about swimming people and swimming to the media and media commentators, and to other external parties. Their damaging motives in doing so were very clear, and their values, or lack of them, were obvious. So thanks for putting swimmers and our swimming community first. And for helping remove barriers to our success in and around the pool.
Have you ever noticed how the sport’s best volunteers never feel the need to tell you that they work for no pay? Beth Meade from Gisborne taught 1000s of children to swim (including me); she was President of the Hawkes Bay Poverty Bay Centre; she built New Zealand’s second biggest swimming club and never once did I hear her mention that she did it all for free. But then Ross Butler is no Beth Meade. In his first line he has to make the point that he is the recipient of all this pain doing a job he does for no nothing. Ross Butler, there is no need to shove your voluntary status down our throat. We appreciate volunteers more that you will ever know. We do not appreciate having your status used as a defence against informed criticism. You lobbied to do this job and you jumped at the chance to accept the position when it was offered. The fact you do it for nothing, does not protect you from normal critical analysis of your performance. Besides, it may be worth remembering that volunteers are an endangered species in the brave new Vanguard world. Coulter may well have handed you a poisoned challis.
Then Butler draws our attention to the following scourge. “I discovered some very sad and sorry people methodically leaking incomplete and deliberately untrue information about swimming people and swimming to the media and media commentators, and to other external parties.” Butler really needs to do better than this. Who are these “sad and sorry people”? Name them, if you dare, if they exist. Tell us about the “incomplete and deliberately untrue information” they are leaking. Tell us the names of the “media” and “external parties” that are being spoken to.
After all you are on the Board of an organization that has the following repressive rule as one of its guiding principles – “To not speak to any media in a negative way regarding Swimming NZ Inc.” If all these people that you know are lying about you and calling you names to all these media moguls, why don’t you do something about it? You have the rule. You have the process. Have a hearing and get rid of them. Do your best – cleanse the organization of dissent. The problem you have Ross Butler is that while you make these wild accusations without names or facts, we don’t believe you. We think you are lying to us. In fact we think those you choose to vilify are a growing band of patriots desperate to protect their sport.
Finally you tell us that, “their damaging motives in doing so were very clear, and their values, or lack of them, were obvious.” If their “damaging motives” and lack of “values” were so “clear” why don’t you let us know what they are exactly? They may be “clear” to you, but we don’t have a blind clue what you are talking about.
The deep, underlying problem facing Swimming New Zealand is a lack of credibility in its leadership. We do not believe a word they say. Cameron, Coulter and Byrne will shortly leave the organization. Their departure will be a most welcome event. They will take with them much of the suspicion and mistrust currently ingrained in the sport. Memos like the one that is the subject of this post will quickly see Butler’s name added to the list of the unwanted. There is no place in any organization for wild unsubstantiated accusations. That’s one thing no one can accuse Swimwatch of doing. We always name those we believe damage the sport. And we always list their sins. Butler does neither. His currency is a world of shadows and deception; of rumours and gossip. We do not want that sort of leadership.
